Writing film criticism should be, first and foremost, about relaying some essence of the film to the reader. By “essence,” I am not referring to a film’s overall thematic material or argumentative objective; rather, I am referring to the style of the film. V.F. Perkins distinguishes between films that have manner (ones that are mainly concerned with how they tell a story; i.e., the narrative structure) and those which achieve style (those that incorporate elements of form that contribute to the film’s content).
Style is achieved through form.
Film is ultimately a visual and aural medium. The forms that attribute to a film’s style -- elements of mise-en-scene, editing and transitions, shot composition, and sound – can distinguish between a mediocre film that, although it may be entertaining, achieves only manner and a film that achieves style.
In the same way, when writing criticism, concentration on form is paramount to criticism that captures the given film’s essence. 
The Hurt Locker (Katherine Bigelow, 2008)
GROUP TWO:
For this blog assignment, you will write 2 separate paragraphs:
(1) For the first paragraph, describe the opening scene from The Hurt Locker (2008). Your description should attempt to relate the essence of the scene. Think carefully about word choice, sentence length, pacing throughout the paragraph, and transition words. Your objective is twofold: (a) to give your reader a sense of what is happening on the screen through your description, and (b) to discuss the cinematic techniques at hand which evoke the essence of the scene (e.g., editing and pacing, camera movement, point of view shots, and/or composition).
Watch the opening scene HERE.
(2) For the second paragraph, COMPARE the opening scene with another scene in the same film. This paragraph does not have to mimic the style in the same way your first paragraph should. Instead, you can concentrate on comparing the cinematic techniques employed by Katherine Bigelow in two different scenes. Conclude this paragraph with a one-sentence statement about the EFFECT of the FORM used in this film.
REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. You must use at least 2 vocabulary words from list #3. BOLD each vocabulary word you use. Post must be live by 5:00 pm on Friday, March 4, 2011.
GROUP ONE:
Your objective is to continue the conversation begun in paragraph one by COMPARING the opening scene with a different scene from the film. Choose a peer's blog, read the first paragraph (the descriptive one) carefully. Then, building from the observations made by the writer about the opening scene, ADD to that person's blog by writing ONE PARAGRAPH that compares the opening with a scene DIFFERENT from the one s/he wrote about in her/his second paragraph. In other words, you will be completing the second part of the assignment described above for Group 2.
REQUIREMENTS: 150 Words Minimum. You must use at least 2 vocabulary words from list #3. BOLD each vocabulary word you use. Post must be live by midnight on Saturday, March 5, 2011.
